True Stallions
What Princesses Need
Part 18: True Stallions
Nightmare Moon’s eyes snapped open. He was dead. He was so beyond dead. He was gelded. And then his legs would be broken. And then she would break his pompus little neck! Rising with a feral snarl from her bed, ignoring the moisture on her cheeks, the black alicorn stomped across the room. Bearing her fangs at the bedroom door and without even lighting her horn, she strode forward. As the angry goddess approached, the doors peeled horrifically off of their hinges with a moan of parting wood. The surrounding stone walls turned to tiny ground pebbles, like an unholy rain of Cocoa Puffs. Hissing into shapeless mounds around her hooves, it didn’t impede her at all as she emerged into the hallway like she was walking on sand.
She turned her head left, and then right. A pair of solar guards stood in the hallway, no doubt meant to guard her and report when she awoke. She narrowed her eyes in fiery anger as they cowered. They hadn’t known she could still turn into Nightmare Moon. Dripping neon green goo on the floor from her long teeth, she lowered her head as though she were about to charge them. “P-Princess Luna!” one of the two said, a rare mare of the daytime guard. “Are you okay?!” it was quite possibly the most imbecilic question she’d ever heard in her eons of life. The alicorn approached, leaving blobs of melted marble tar in her hoofsteps. She loomed over the pair of shaking military ponies, slathering acid from her mouth and death in her eyes.
“Sleep.” She passed a hoof down the mare’s muzzle with a slow stroking motion. The pony pitched over as though struck dead. The stallion next to her gaped in horror, but looked up just in time to get the same treatment. Nightmare Moon walked briskly past them, down the hall. Every guard she passed (for they were arranged in pairs down the hall that went to her quarters) dropped like he’d been hit with sleeping gas, and the clanks of armor echoed down the hall. She didn’t have far to travel. All the royal apartments were in the same wing. She turned a corner briskly, terrifying a chambermaid mare and making her faint as well.
She was clenching her teeth so hard her cheeks were vibrating. She left a trail of melted tile as she walked, the pure hatred in her eyes searing red lines wherever she looked upon the wall. Turning down the royal guest hall—ah, there it was. A little sign had been posted next to the door, ‘Doctor Deep Psyche’. Her terrible, world-ending shadow cast itself upon his door. Wherever her shadow fell, the wooden door simply melted. How one melted wood is… well, it just happened. Her rage was warping the fabrics of reality, and when a goddess like her was this wrathful yes, she could MELT wood. Nightmare Moon walked without stopping into the apartment.
She turned her head left and right. The place was small, relatively bare and humble, but she knew better. Her tormenter dwelled here and she would welcome the splatters of red she would conjure out of his body to paint the bucking walls. Deep Psyche was in the bathroom, and the shower was running. The Princess of the dark flicked her gaze to the window, it was midmorning. He was getting ready for another day of wrecking her life and probing her mind. But neigh, no more. She shoved the cracked bathroom door open with her muzzle, stepping inside. Stepping into the cloud of steam, she came to the shower curtain and THRUST it aside--!
Deep Psyche was sitting on his haunches, head tilted back at the shower spray. When he felt her shadow upon him and turned to see her, he screamed like a mare. Nightmare Moon grabbed him by the neck with both hooves, flaring her wings open to cast him into apocalyptic darkness. Her touch was like ice. “I’m going to BREAK you!” Nightmare Moon hissed, dribbles of acidy spit going down the sides of her mouth. How would one of her precious Lunar Stallions punctuate such a threat…? “Like a KitKat bar.” She added darkly, narrowing her eyes into slits.
Deep Psyche, trails of his mane going down either side of his face, stared up at her in terror. “Wh…what?” he squeaked. She responded by slamming him into the shower stall’s wall so hard that tiles rained around him. He froze in such agony that he couldn’t cry out. She let him fall into the debris, slicing the showerhead off with a flick of magic. The increase in pressure pressed the bleeding stallion down into the floor of the tub.
“You’ve caused me nothing but misery, doctor. Tiz time I reciprocated!” the dark goddess grabbed him up again, bodily, slamming him into one wall then the other, then the first, then to the other again. The stallion cried out in agony as he bounced off the walls of his shower stall like a pinball in a machine. “YOU’VE STOLEN MY CHILDREN FROM ME! DIDST THOU THINK I WOULD NOT AVENGE THEM?!” She held him hard against the wall, roaring into his face in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Avenge them?!” He was shaking, coughing a little from all of her rough handling. He looked up, into her face, bits of tile falling out of his fur. “They got families, Luna. What’s to avenge?!” she dropped him on his butt and he yelped when he fell into the shards of tile. “Aren’t you glad they’ve been adopted?!”
“I am all alone thanks to thee!” Nightmare Moon tore the shower-curtain and bar down so he had nothing to hide behind. “All alone!” she roared.
“When?” Deep Psyche said, trying to prop himself up and failing. He lay on his side, looking up at her pathetically. He turned onto his back, hooves drawn up to protect himself if he could. As though he could.
“When what?!” she snapped angrily, looming over him and trying to decide which was the best angle to break his tiny spine. Neigh, he had no spine, perhaps she could spit upon him and let him melt into goo! Then he would go down the drain with the rest of the filth!
“When have you been alone, since the Lunar Stallions were adopted?” Deep Psyche could feel himself being pressed down by a powerful force. Nightmare Moon was going to crush him into the floor. He groaned loudly, unable to breathe very well. The more she leaned, rather, loomed, over him, the heavier it got. He could see the hot water parting, pressed away by the pure force of angry will she was projecting. “Tell me!” he shouted desperately. “Your sister was there! Right?!” he gagged, turning blue in the face and clutching at his chest and neck.
Nightmare Moon cocked her head, the force vanishing. The poor stallion gasped aloud as precious air rushed back to his lungs. He turned onto his belly, coughing animatedly. “Tia was there when I fled to my room…” the black alicorn said vaguely. “And I awoke with guards posted at my door.” It was a bit of a revelation that no, she’d not been alone for a single moment since her foals had been snapped out from under her. “But THOU art not escaping so easily, doctor!” she renewed her fiery rage, glaring down at him.
“Luna stop this!” he shouted. “What do you want me to do?!” he was shrouded in her dark aura, hefted into the air so she could glare at him eye to eye. All four of his hooves flailed weakly as she looked around, trying to decide exactly how to deal with him.
“I want thou to DIE!” she roared savagely. “Ever since you arrived, I’ve made no progress at all! You’ve brought nothing but misery upon me! My stallions, gone! My beloved Twilight, alienated from me! My reputation in tatters! Everypony thinks me mad!” suddenly, she found the perfect idea. “PERHAPS IT IS TIME I EMBRACED THE MADNESS! STARTING WITH THOU!” she seized him by his withers and by the base of his tail, lifting the squirming stallion into the air. He cried out in pain, his total body weight supported by his neck and the long hair on his butt.
“There’s!” he gagged, looking over at her with clenched teeth. “There’s that I!” Nightmare Moon knelt forward and brought his back down upon her knee. His horn lit, just in the nick of time, projecting a flat base along his back. This kept it back from breaking, but only just barely. His concentration had been shattered on the first hit. The second would do it and kill him.
“WHAT?!” Nightmare roared, having not heard him a moment ago. “SPEAK THINE FINAL WORDS AGAIN! I DID NOT HEAR THEM AS I TRIED TO BREAK THY SPINE UPON MY KNEE!” She lowered him just a bit, madness and darkness swirling in her great draconic eyes. Slathering acid out upon the floor, she would wait but a few scant seconds.
“You haven’t said ‘we’ since you got here.” Deep Psyche gagged, hanging in the air in her grasp. “You’ve said I, my, mine.” She stared at him, eyes narrowing in distrust. “Don’t you see?! You’re already healing! It’s not about ‘we’ anymore, it’s about you, Princess Luna!”
Princess Luna dropped her therapist, having caught sight of her face in the bathroom mirror when he spoke. He fell in a dripping wet, bleeding, messy heap. “Wh… what…?” she said, looking horrified at the scene around her. “B-but I…” her anger began to evaporate. Nightmare Moon had vanished with her intense anger.
“Awwwwhhh…” Deep Psyche said painfully, turning over so he could see her. He pressed his mane out of his face, smiling as best he could despite the hurting. “You’re already thinking of yourself as one pony again!” he sidled sideways, flopping over the lip of the tub and shutting the water off. He lay there limply for a time, finally working up the energy to speak as he slid to the floor. “You don’t need foals disguised as soldiers to validate you, Princess. You need regular soldiers, all stallions if that’s what you want.” He said to her face. Luna looked down as her therapist slumped against the tub, panting. “There’s ponies out there, believe it or not, that don’t hate you for what you did a thousand years ago.”
“They fear me, though! They turn from me and quake from my voice!” Luna accused angrily, her eyes already tearing up. “I have tried normal ponies as guards, they cannot stand me!”
“That was when you first got back, months and months ago.” Deep Psyche said, nursing his shoulder. Luna leaned, igniting her horn embarrassedly. The laceration sealed itself without a mark. “They’ve gotten used to you again, don’t you think?”
“But I-!”
“Repetition steals the power of fear, Luna.” Deep Psyche slowly stood, clutching at his chest for a moment. “You’ve been home again for a long time now. They’ve grown used to you.” Luna ignited her horn once more, trying to soothe his woes.
“Oh Faust I… I’m so sorry!” Luna pulled him to her breast, suddenly bursting into new tears. “I’ve attacked the pony trying to aide me! I am a monster! I meant to murder you!”
Deep Psyche pulled from her, limping out of the bathroom. “Come.” He said, going to the alcove that used to be his door. “It’s alright, everypony!” he called out into the hallway. “You can come out now!” he told them. Luna dashed to the entrance of the apartment, horrified. Oh Gods, they were going to think her a complete madpony and lock her up.
“How’d it go?” Out of the shadow of a column stepped, much to Luna’s shock, a Lunar Stallion.
“Well, she beat me, destroyed my bathroom, and tried to break my spine on her knee.” Deep Psyche said. Another Lunar Stallion, a unicorn that had stuck himself to the ceiling with magic, dropped before him. How had he gotten up there?!
“Wh… what…?” Luna stared with an open jaw. “Lunar Stallions?!” she rushed up to the first speaker. “Child! You have returned to me!” she crushed the pony in a hug, wuzzling him over and over.
The grey stallion flushed, harrumphing and squirming about. A pair of pegasi, armored as Lunar Stallions, melted out of shadow to point at their leader and guffaw. “E-r-rrr! You’re majesty that’s hardly appropriate!”
Luna thrust him away, blinking in confusion. “Child! Which… which art thou?” she leaned down, screwing up her face as she studied his. She didn’t recognize him. The stallion stared up at her, leaning back and lifting a hoof in case she decided to hug him again.
“Er…” he said. He coughed a little. “My name is Lion Heart, Princess.” He straightened and saluted. “Hey!” he gave a shout when Luna unceremoniously leaned and wrenched his helmet off. The spell of the helm fizzled out, and beneath it was a stallion with a teal mane and an orange coat. He didn’t shrink, though. He really was a stallion. On his flank was a crescent moon with flecks for stars.
“Thou art no child of mine!” Luna gasped, dropping the helm in horror. “Away with thee!” she shooed, stepping back to make the motion with her hoof that he go away. Instantly, all four Lunar Stallions hid themselves. Lion Heart thrust his helm back onto his head, and went behind a column. The two pegasi flew into the rafters, folding their wings and vanishing into shadow. The unicorn turned invisible, and they never heard him go.
Deep Psyche smiled, looking around. “They’re like ninjas, I swear to Faust.” He chuckled, holding the side of his face where he had another little cut. “They’re yours, of course. New Lunar Stallions.”
“NEW Lunar Stallions?” Luna gaped, looking every which way. “But… but when did they-!”
“Hoof picked by your sister. The best ponies that volunteered to serve under her Majesty of the moon.” Deep Psyche chuckled, gingerly feeling out one of his bruises.
Luna slowly, confusedly, sank to her belly. “How dost thou think of everything?” she mumbled, staring at him in very real awe. “I could have killed thou this morning, instead you bear my beating and give me new soldiers. Why?” her eyes were soft and she stared up at the brown stallion. He fought the very real urge to hug the vulnerable Princess, but did not.
“Well!” Deep Psyche smiled, but found that hurt so he stopped. “What sort of therapist would I be if I didn’t think of everything to help you get better?” he smirked a little, winking. Luna blushed.
“But I beat you!” Luna said raggedly, looking up at him. “What if I had murdered thee?!” she demanded.
“Well! That’s where the Lunar Stallions would’ve come in.” Deep Psyche made a waving motion, and Lion Heart reappeared from shadow. “I’ll need that back now.” He said gingerly, smiling in a painful way. Luna gaped in open terror when the Lunar Stallion produced a dart pistol from his side.
“Thou meant to assassinate me if I had killed you?!” Luna was freaking out even more now.
“Oh no.” Deep Psyche smiled. “It’s a tranquilizer. We would've run crying to Princess Celestia.”
“Thou canst tranquilize a goddess, doctor.” Luna said, annoyed very suddenly.
“You can, and it’s been done before.” He dismantled the weapon in front of her, shoving the pieces back into the Lunar Stallion’s saddlebags. “How do you think Princess Celestia got her tonsils out?” Luna had no idea what that meant, and stared at him. Apparently, Tia had been drugged into unconsciousness at one point… wow.
“This is… this is too much!” Luna said, weary in her heart and head now. She sank to all four knees, then onto her belly.
“I knew you would come for me, Princess, I’m not stupid.” Deep Psyche said kindly. “I knew you would be after me with all the fury you could muster. But, I didn’t think you would kill me. If you were about to, I would’ve screamed like a mare a second time to send them running.” He gestured at Lion Heart, who smiled warily at Luna.
“And they would have toppled a goddess to save thou?” Luna said a little reproachfully.
“Well, at least slowed you down a bit. I don’t like getting my spine broken like a KitKat bar.” He winked at her playfully. Luna blushed, truly humbled. She hung her head a little. “Luna.” He said, kneeling down before her. He was still sopping wet and bleeding in places. “I knew it would happen. I expected it and I prepared. You’re my patient, and I know you well.” He soothed, reaching and pushing her mane out of her eyes.
She looked at him with weariness in her eyes. “Thou must think me terrible.”
“I think thee ill.” He mimicked her old dialect, trying to raise her spirits with humor. She looked up at him with soft eyes. “But there’s no shame in that, Princess…” he leaned down, nodding when he saw the other three Lunar Stallions emerging from their hiding places again. The two pegasi glided down and the unicorn uncloaked, standing in a loose ring around the therapist and patient. “Your mind is sick, and going to a doctor is perfectly normal and acceptable—just like if any other part of you was sick.” He gestured to her hoof and shoulder as examples. “There’s no shame in it, and I want you to stop being ashamed TODAY, alright?” Luna looked up at him slowly, doubtful. “You know, you were right. I’ve done some bad things to you. But only because I knew it would help you get better.” He gestured to the four soldiers around them, staring anxiously at their Princess.
“But they are not-!” Luna tried.
“Yes, they are.” Deep Psyche insisted. “They ARE yours, and if you’ll stop beating yourself up and saying nopony loves you—they’ll love you.” The sentence was profound, and Luna recoiled just a little. He grabbed her shoulder, though, before she could flee. “Stop. Running.” He whispered, holding her eyes firmly with his own.
Slowly, Luna looked up and around her. Four Lunar Stallions, all of them actual stallions, not foals. They wanted to serve under her? Her therapist had said they were all volunteers, not just hoof-selected, but hoof-selected volunteers. That meant there were more than just the four of them, wanting to serve her. There was a long, drawn out silence. “H… hullo.” She said in a meek way, hunching a little. She wasn’t sure what to expect from them. The four Lunar Stallions smiled, lining up shoulder to shoulder and saluting.
Deep Psyche smiled at the four of them. “I love that first person singular she’s got going on, don’t you?” he chuckled, pushing his sopping wet mane out of his eyes again. The four armored ponies agreed. Luna smiled wearily, slowly rising to her hooves. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I was showering.” He turned and limped back into his apartment. “Cancel our appointment for tomorrow, Princess.” He called over his shoulder. He pressed his door closed, but it was so bent inward it didn’t matter. “I’ve got to rest a little.” he vanished into his bathroom, quietly shutting the door.
Luna looked over, uncomfortable, at the quartet of armored stallions. “Er.” She said, looking at her hooves and scuffing the ground a bit. “I am… hungry.” She said in a small voice. “May we to breakfast?” she asked their permission, rather than commanding them.
“Of course, Princess!” One of the two pegasi nodded. With two walking ahead of the Princess and two behind, they escorted her to the dining hall. Luna looked at them, even turning her head about so see behind her. For the first time in a very, very long time, she dared to hope. This just might work out. Her therapist must've had firm virility indeed if he would face down an angry goddess AND reinstate a lost military force, all before breakfast. Luna wondered what made the wise stallion tick.
End of Part 18
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And I was just about to go to sleep, perish the thought.
Best. Therapist. Ever.
Also, this line only proves it.
Ah, caught this just before bed. Leaves me with the warm fuzzies to drift off with... Scratch that, you gave me the chills with Nightmare Moon going through the castle like an assassin.
Sleep is for the week.... and the ones who don't have new updates to read.
And the good chapters keep on rolling
I'm...mildly confused as to how a pony would break someone's back on her knee.
But it was a stellar chapter, really. I greatly enjoyed it.
This is just awesome deep psyche is the best facing an angry goddess just plain awesome
1185201
Agreed
Now I'm 10 min late for work, was worth it.
Dude... just DAYUM!!! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Spitfire_dayum.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Spitfire_dayum.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Spitfire_dayum.png
Somebody tell me where in Tarturus is the Lunar Stallion Recruitment Center!
Tell me now!
Wonder what he'll get as payment?...
Love Doctor Psyche
okay. okay. I forgive the heartbreak of the last chapter, but damn you for writing so well
Yes I knew you might kill me but I am okay with that,
Yes that is how you know when someone is deticated
Good chapter as always
You can sleep when you're dead!
Or done with updates. Either one.
Magnificent chapter, by the way. Truly awe-inspiring.
Dang Even Luna comments on his Steel pair...
Awesome Luna. I still hope there can be Twiluna at the ending. Or maybe, DeepLuna??? That sounds dirty lol
1185241 She was angry enough to melt wood and your questioning how she was trying to break somepony's back on her knee?
Love where this is going, although it seems to be approaching the end far too fast for me
I don wan it to end.
Just when my head hits the pillow!
Still good though, I absolutely loved it!
Give me a break
Give me a break
Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat Bar
....Now just picture Nightmare Moon singing that and any creepy vibes from her rampage kinda just falls apart -I know I laughed at the mental image.-
Of course if you picture her singing that as she tore into our good Dr. then........well ya that is scary oAo!!
1185241
She can melt wood, I'm pretty sure she'll find a way to break a spine on her knee.
Whew, intense.
Pretty dedicated therapist there.
I, of course, need MOAR!
1185284
Triple Reinforced Titanium Steel pair...
1185232
And for people who don't have insomnia.
Nothing like getting the crap beat out of you first thing in the morning!
Good chapter--again--though I will say I would've expected the doc to be waay more injured than what he was, considering the beat down he endured. But I'm just a sucker for lot's of guilt in me fanfics.
Keep it up!
Wait. Lionheart? You mean Lionheart Lionheart? Sweet.
1185257 Just as long as you don't get fired.
Heh, that Doc is a tricky one. Would hate to have to go up against him in battle if he's been given any time to prepare.
thou art best author. and hast scared mine soul with tales of nightmare moon.
1185315 Ew. DeepLuna. Just, ew. Let's stick with TwiLuna.
Also, I liked it better when she had the Stallions. I also hate Deep Psyche and wished that she had killed him, but whatever. Not my story.
You know I volunteered, but was rejected ...always next cut to be a lunar stallion.
my name is lionheart WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT
Oooh! Foreshadowing! I wonder how he's going to wiggle out of the occupational hazard of some patients falling in love with their therapists
Poor Luna still misses her little ones. Maybe when they grow up, they'll return to be part of her elite lunar stallion squad, who love headrubs and arts and crafts time!
I have been waiting for NMM's revenge...
God! I am going to miss her (NMM) when she is gone.
Deep Psych is best oc.
Luna is best pony.
This is best story.
Uhhh, that was ... different. The format was slightly off for you Aegis. The tone was quicker, more condensed and chaotic, less clear a bit. I suppose if that's what you're going for, it works. It just seems more ... rough, for some reason. You can really see it when the Day Guard speaks in the middle of a paragraph as well as the quickness of the descriptions until the fight and the more casual tone in describing how a door melted or the stone grinding into sand (comparing to food? never write on an empty stomach).
Uhm, Luna's turning might have worked better as a gradual thing. Mentioning the mirror earlier and a 'black mare' (purple prose it up yo) that, through the course of the attack, slowly was described as more and more Luna-like (black mare to 'midnight coat' to 'purple something or other') I think would have made a wonderful set of imagery. Also, uh ... yes. This is pretty gosh dang good. At first, I was severely dismayed that Deep Psych just kinda let it all slide but, really? Luna is sick. Very sick. Trying to prevent her from exercising her power would feed into her self-hate and feelings of isolation and worthlessness. By accepting the attack and hiding his undoubtedly severe shaking and crying spell behind the bathroom door, he's helping reinforce the fact that she is a Goddess and is powerful and is trusted and is worthy.
In normal circumstances, taking her power away and slowly building her confidence and mental faculties up would be preferable but, uhm, how can you do that with a Goddess on a long-term basis without affecting who and what she is or at least how she views herself? Overall, it's a great chapter ... it just seems rougher to me and I'd have loved to see a more gradual change from NMM to Luna to show how she is slowly becoming more of a singular.
The new Lunar Stallions are NINJAS!!! Hell yes!!!
I know I've heard that line 'break you like a kitkat bar' but I can't remember where. Maybe it'll come to me later.
You had me at ninjas...
1185315 deepluna all the way! Too much twiluna already.
Yeah, this flip flop is really kind of out of character and really rather illogical. "Oh, gee, I said 'I', that TOTALLY validates his taking everything from me, leaving me completely and utterly alone and showing me that my sister will turn on me on a moment's notice!"
1185391 God I loved those foals... they grow up so fast
Or in this case return to a childlike state and get adopted by lesbian couples.
1185271
, and if anything my hope is Deep Psyche be one of those doctors that doesn't do it for the money.
We won't know until later
1185483 No i'm talking about whether Luna will offer to cure Screw Loose. Or would he ask her to.
1185448 Yeah that shit would be pretty awesome!
1185232
And the weekend, if you're not strong enough to last it out.
Once again, Deep Psyche proves he IS Best Pony
1185335 Don't forget the night shift!dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Fluttershy_lolface.png
> "May we to breakfast"
Intentional?
> Her therapist must've had firm virility indeed if he would face down an angry goddess AND reinstate a lost military force, all before breakfast. Luna wondered what made the wise stallion tick.
